RPR_FY2015_08

3.1 Passive Design Strategy
For a hot and humid climate, all buildings have the primary function of providing an
internal environment with thermal comfort, which is desirable for the purpose of
occupancy in buildings. Therefore, understanding weather conditions will offer
opportunities to minimise solar heat gains, which will lead to saving capital costs
due to the reduction in the capacity of air-conditioning equipment and ultimately
saving energy costs in the operation of buildings.
The primary objective in a passive design strategy is to minimise solar thermal
heat gains and some examples of the key elements to be considered in this strategy
are as follows:
a) Building orientation with the longer building axis facing North–South so
that the narrow ends of the building face East–West.
b) Building facades that provide shading for windows.
c) Fenestrations (windows) that provide low thermal transmittance and an
effective shading coefficient of glazing used in the fenestration system.
d) Building and insulating materials that provide low thermal transmittance
of the opaque walls and roofs.
e) Strategic landscaping that provides shading from the sun, shielding from
heat reflection in the surrounding spaces, and the creation of a cooler
microclimate around the building.
f) Daylighting design that captures the natural daylight to reduce the need
for artificial lighting.
g) Natural ventilation that makes use of the natural forces of wind and
buoyancy to deliver sufficient fresh air and air change to ventilate enclosed
spaces without the need to rely on air conditioning.
h) Measures to prevent air leakage as uncontrolled mixing of outside air
with air-conditioned space requires more energy to remove moisture and
heat gain contributed by air leakage.
3.2 Active Design Strategy
Having minimised solar heat gain and having maximised the capture of daylight and
natural ventilation, an active design strategy will play a key role to complete the
achievement of energy efficiency in buildings.
The extent of energy efficiency in active systems often depends on budget
allocations. If budget permits, sophisticated energy management and lighting
control systems may be considered. The minimum approach in an active design
strategy is to cover systems that consume higher shares of energy, i.e. airconditioning
systems and lighting.
Annex 4 | 79